To Me, You Are Perfect
by FlyYouFools
Summary: A fluffy one-shot set in the middle of Down East Decisions, a missing half-chapter, if you will. No drama. No angst. Just love.


**A/N: I know, I know. You're thinking, "WHY ARE YOU WRITING ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE ENDING OF DED?" The finale will arrive **_**very soon**_**, it's nearly complete.**

**This idea hit me on the way to work this morning and terrorized me so I had to write it immediately. I wrote it **_**at work**_**, blowing off deadlines with abandon. (I'm now super behind, I hope you're happy.) This is an unbeta-d one-shot in the DED universe taking place between Chapters 14 and 15. It is as sweet as candy conversation hearts and as fluffy as a kitten, be forewarned. This one's for Angie — Happy Birthday troublemaker!**

Regina Mills blushed the moment she entered her office, a smirk on her lips as she bowed her head with a small shake, overcome by the sight and smell.

She should have guessed something was up the moment she walked by Laura, who was suddenly engrossed in her monitor. She noticed the smirk on her secretary's face but didn't think twice about it, preoccupied with her impending 9:30 a.m. call and the meeting agenda she was passed as she walked by.

"Stop gloating," she called over her shoulder, the command tinged with affection.

The intercom sounded from her desk as Regina hung her coat and dropped her worn leather attaché by her chair. _Daniel_, she thought with a soft smile, as she heard the familiar thud. Her mother refused to allow her to accept an engagement ring from him, "But she can't say no to this," he proudly announced after her master's commencement as they sat in her half-packed apartment. "Now I'll be with you wherever you go."

**I have no idea what you're talking about** came the disembodied reply, further amusing since Regina hadn't shut the door and could hear her suddenly by-the-book secretary from her desk and the intercom simultaneously.

Eyeing the two-dozen red roses commanding a good portion of her workspace, Regina smiled: "I'm pretty sure you do. And stop using the intercom."

**No. And, yes, I was here when they were delivered but you'll notice the seal on the cards are unbroken. I have no idea where they came from.**

"You're a terrible liar," she smiled.

**Whatever you say, Madam Mayor. You have 25 minutes until your 9:30. I'm going to hold your calls in case you wanted to, oh, I don't know, make a personal call or something.**

Taking a sip of coffee, Laura's grin grew as she heard the office door shut to her left and saw the in-use light on Regina's office line illuminate on the her handset.

Across town, Chief Emma Swan was tucking into a second red-and-pink covered sugar cookie, courtesy of Martha's grandkids, who conned the woman into baking for every holiday, major or minor; the Arbor Day brownies were unreal. Taking a bite, she guiltily eyed the three boxes of unopened Thin Mints behind her desk, purchases the Brownies had suckered her into outside the IGA. _I gotta give those to Petit,_ she thought, her pants suddenly feeling tighter than normal.

Emma's direct line rang, the volume somehow drowned out by an urgent shout from the next room.

"CHIEF, YOU GOT A CALL!"

Despite the fact Martha didn't screen the Chief's personal line, nor was Emma deaf or blind, the dispatcher felt the need to holler out the obvious every time she wasn't on a 911 call.

_We either need more emergencies or an intercom._

A grin curled her lips at one end as she eyed the caller ID, suddenly happy and lighter, her heart instinctively thumping a few beats faster just at the mere letters on the screen.

"Storybrooke Chief of Police Emma Swan," she announced sternly.

"Good morning, Chief, Mayor Mills."

_Ah, the game's a foot._

"Yes, Mayor. What can I do for you?"

"There seems to have been a reverse theft in my office."

"Excuse me, ma'am? I'm not quite sure what that is." Emma could imagine Regina trying to hold her stern tone, a giggle threatening to spring through. All she wanted to do at the moment was hang up, run to Town Hall and kiss her girlfriend senseless. She could practically feel the warmth of Regina's body, the hard angles, the soft curves, the delicious smell of her skin. Fingertips slowly tracing a gentle pattern up and down the long planes of her back in long, even strokes.

"Someone left two dozen of the most beautiful roses I've ever seen on my desk."

"Ah ha." Emma leaned back in her chair, loving every second of this. "Are you sure it wasn't multiple perpetrators?"

"I can only think of one suspect who would commit such an act."

Emma chuckled, leaving Regina to wonder what she missed. ""Really? Did you find any evidence? Did the perpetrator — or perpetrators — leave, say, _a card_?"

_The card._ Regina nearly smacked her head.

"I, uh, may have overlooked that particular aspect, given how overwhelmed I was at the incident."

"Huh. Well, why don't you look now?" All of a sudden, Emma's tone had softened. The Chief of Police's cocky, confident bravado had been transformed in a millisecond into the quiet, still slightly insecure tone of a woman hopelessly, desperately in love.

Regina rose out of her chair, which creaked in objection, and quickly spied a small, white envelope sticking out of each bouquet.

"There are two."

"That lends credence to my dual-perpetrator theory."

Slipping a nail under the first lip of the first envelope, Regina opened it and carefully slid out the card, recognizing Emma's cramped handwriting.

_Regina,_

_I love you more than you could ever imagine. You are the greatest thing to happen to me in my entire life. Emma_

Brown eyes instantly welled with tears, throat tightening. "Your _thing_? I'm a _thing_?" she sniffed, half laughing, half crying.

"Really? That's what you get out of that? Sorry, I left my thesaurus at the office." _She's not gonna be happy I made her cry at work._ "I was a little busy at the time to come up with a suitable list of adjectives for 'the person I love more than I have ever loved anyone in my entire life.'" She paused and chuckled. "Damn, that would have worked. Open the other one."

Emma heard the other card open and a voice catch on the line.

I LOVE YOU MOMMA, the card read in block capitals, obviously written by Emma. But the signature, a capital H and some rough approximation of "ENRY", was obviously her son's effort. A small circle with two dots and a curve completed the message.

"Is that why he's been drawing smiley faces for the past three days?" Her voice faltered as she tried to picture Emma and Henry in the florist's executing their plan, Emma no doubt trying to keep the rambunctious, excitable boy from toppling over plants and vases. "Yeah, I taught him, then swore him to secrecy, which he didn't like, by the way. I had to explain over and over why this was a good secret to keep and you'd be so happy." She listened, still hearing more sniffles and irregular breathing than words. "You _are_ happy…right?"

"Oh…" Regina began then stopped, opening her eyes wide and, cradling the handset between her neck and shoulder, sweeping the moisture out of her eyes with her index fingers. _My makeup must be a wreck. Thank God that 9:30 is a call._ "I love you, so much. You are…" she paused, searching for the right word. "You are a miracle I never thought I would experience."

Now it was Emma's turn for a suddenly thick throat. She tried to clear it, to little relief. "I just wanted you to know, being Valentine's Day and all."

"I thought we agreed no gifts."

"We did," she snickered, "but you know I suck at honoring that."

Regina smirked at her ingenuity and soon-to-be upper hand. "Look under your blotter."

"Huh?"

"Look under your desk blotter." Emma heard a grin under the impatient tone as her eyes veered south. Sure enough, poking out of one end of her blotter was a tiny purple triangle. She pulled it out to discover it was one corner of a greeting card envelope.

Heart beating wildly, she opened it to find a card bearing curling, cursive fonts and flowers on the front. She skimmed it, something about love, then locked her eyes on the handwriting inside.

_I love you more every day. To me, you are perfect. Regina_

Emma smiled, her eyes now watery, remembering the night they cuddled on the couch watching Love Actually, Regina holding her girlfriend and kissing copious tears away. _If you let anyone know I am a closet mush ball, I will withhold sex for months_, Emma threatened, both of them collapsing in laughter at how pathetic a threat that was.

The phone line was silent long enough it prompted Regina's unsure, "Are you OK?"

"Yeah." Emma inhaled deep, reaching over her desk to push her door closed with one hand. "It's just…I never got a Valentine's Day card."

"Ever?"

"Never."

"Not even in school?"

"Well, yeah, but they were, like, mandatory, everyone-gets-one-even-if-stupid-Brian-Keating-is-an-asshole."

"I suspect there's a story there."

"Another time. But as an adult, from a girlfriend? No." Her voice weakened a tad. "This is my first."

"Of many," Regina soothed. "_The first of many_."

"I like that…wait, how did you get in my office? It's locked!" Sniffles gave way to a light chuckle. "Everyone here is armed. _Even Martha_."

"Darling, I am the Mayor. And how did you not notice a card peeking out? Some cop you are."

"Oh. Nice swagger, Mills. And here I was thinking about wearing my uniform to your place tonight." Her heart warmed at the realization it was Friday night and she had the entire weekend with Regina and Henry. "I suppose I'll just leave it at my apartment." She punctuated the possibility with an offended huff. "Hmphf."

"Wait, let's not be hasty." Emma grinned at the anxious reply. "Perhaps we can work out a compromise?"

"I'm listening…"

Later that night Emma sat on the couch, the filling in a Mills sandwich, one arm each slung around mother and son. Henry amazingly had passed out about halfway through Hercules, despite the truckload of candy he hauled in from his preschool Valentine's Day party. "When did Valentine's Day turn into Halloween?" she asked when Henry handed her a decorated paper lunch bag bulging with candy, cards, pencils and stickers. Regina simply laughed, kissing her on the cheek as she walked by.

Earlier in the week, Emma had proposed a romantic dinner out, but Regina refused.

"C'mon, I'm sure Kathryn will babysit," she teased. "Tell her it's Single Awareness Day and Hen is her gift."

"That's awful," the brunette laughed, playfully smacking her on the arm. "I just want a nice night in with my two favorite people."

That request lead to take-out pizza at the kitchen table, where Henry dutifully unpacked each Valentine and asked Regina to read them aloud.

"To Henry, Happy Valentine's Day, from Olivia."

"She's nice. She brought cupcakes for her birthday. Who's dis one from?"

"To Henry, You're the Coolest, from Liam."

"He took all the trucks yesterday! He had to go in time out!"

Post-dinner, the trio retired to the living room, fire stoked and TV playing the movie. Regina conked out first, Henry surprisingly not far behind despite eating half his body weight in sugar earlier in the day.

Regina was tucked into Emma's torso, pillowed into her right side, body firm and warm, chest rising and falling with soft, even breaths. Henry was burrowed into her left hip, his head on her lap. Shifting to stretch her occasionally stiff back, she spied a small, yellow candy heart stuck on Henry's pant leg. Stamped across the candy in bright pink capitals it declared: I'M IN LOVE.

Emma smiled and leaned her head on top of Regina's. _Sure am._

The End


End file.
